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The world continues to change so quickly. Using technology to connect with target audiences is essential in penetrating the cluttered atmosphere, especially in the field of healthcare. Social media has expanded our professional coordinates and positioned communicators to participate in the real-time conversations shaping the marketplace of ideas.

For the last 20 years, I have seen how successful policy and campaign workers use technology to transform outreach and activism. Those who embrace the effort, become early adopters, build their critical mass and consume the environment like a tidal wave.

At first, it’s overwhelming, but eventually you find your groove. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Groupon — initially, it did not occur to me to join them. However, for career insight or to get a better deal on frozen yogurt, it is essential to be plugged in. Patterns definitely emerge, and information management becomes key.

I’ve seen the impact firsthand at my organization, the Oncology Nursing Society. We’re engaged in a multitude of membership advocacy efforts that educate decision-makers on nursing and cancer.

This is a preview of Building a Grassroots Army on the Internet: A Guide for Adopters at All Stages. Read the full post

“That headline seems improbable, if not impossible, right?!?!” As public relations professionals, managing expectations is a daily challenge. We’re working in real time within a relentless news cycle, where the communications demands of our organizations have become greater and more complex. Budgets and staffing haven’t kept pace, and every day seems like a battle just to tick off a few more items from our ever-growing “to do” lists.

Realistically, how do you map out your yearly PR plan when communications is the department everyone turns to and assumes will get the great hits because “press coverage is ‘free media,’ right?”

I’ve been there, and want to let you in on a little-known secret that will help you wrangle the many, varied communications messages, audiences and events into a seemingly unrealistic, but actually quite workable, plan. First, let me set the stage and explain where I’ve seen this done exceptionally well.

This is a preview of Oldie But a Goodie: Use of Radio Can Dramatically Expand the Impact of Your PR Plan. Read the full post

In this post, Weiner shares his insights on the changes and trends in, and value of effective research and evaluation, in public relations. Joyce Lofstrom, MS, APR, co-chair of the conference and director, corporate communications, HIMSS, posed these questions to him in an email interview.

This is a preview of Quality Research and Evaluation Matters: Q/A with Mark Weiner, PRSA Health Academy Pre-Conference Speaker. Read the full post

Oh, the wondrous things we have! We can access so many new electronic tools, gadgets and mobile applications to make our media relations efforts more productive. However, can email ever replace a face-to-face conversation? Can a Facebook page convey the interplay of emotions at a live news conference? How can 140 characters explain the complexity of health care policy or do it without the cynicism that too often creeps into pithy, short bites?

In order to engage reporters, we should not give up our YouTube channels, LinkedIn accounts or Flickr photos. They all are part of the arsenal that media relations professionals use to help tell clients’ stories. However, I do think it is time to refocus ― social media is a means to the end, and not the end goal itself.

Ethics is the backbone of public relations. After all, how can you build relationships and trust, if you don’t do it in an atmosphere of integrity and transparency? Lately, however, the growing array – and popularity of – social media tools has created some new ethical dilemmas and uncertainties. How does the PRSA Code of Ethics apply to tweets? If I do Facebook on my own time, what right does my employer have to complain about – or perhaps fire me for – what I say and show? The fact is, much of social media is uncharted territory. We know the rules for traditional media. Now, we’re trying to figure out if, and how, they apply in the new media world. There’s a lot of blurriness out there – between news and opinion, news and entertainment, privacy and “sharing” with Facebook and Twitter friends.

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